The day after the Kyoto Kinen.
That morning, snow fell over Mitsuishi again, a rare sight.
M-chan's second foal stepped onto the soft snow for the first time. Before she had even begun grazing, she already looked excited.
Her steps were still a little unsteady, but she could already follow behind her mother on her own without being left behind—though that was also because M-chan kept stopping and looking back to check on her foal.
In contrast, things were rather different on the other side.
Perhaps because Sakuya had repeatedly woken her up to eat during the night, Chestnut Coat looked listless. Even after arriving at the pasture, her eyes seemed about to close.
However—
Even in her drowsy state, the unusually sturdy legs that looked nothing like those of a newborn foal remained planted firmly on the ground.
"What an incredible build... Looking from here, I almost thought she was some kind of calf."
Zepp looked toward the pasture where the foals and their mothers were gathered, and remarked with rare emotion.
"That's true, though I am a little worried about that girl's weight when the time comes."
Following Zepp's gaze toward the pasture, Chestnut Coat, who had just been nursing, finally lost her battle with sleep and fell asleep beside her mother's legs.
Her build might have looked somewhat exaggerated, but she was still only a child—
Just as he thought that, Sakuya, who had been nosing through the snow in search of grass, started walking as though she had not noticed her own foal at all.
Chestnut Coat sensed the movement and hurriedly forced her eyes open, scrambled to her feet, then gave anxious whinnies that seemed to say, "Hey! I'm over here, Mom!" as she frantically chased after Sakuya.
No matter how one looked at it,